The letter was from “Motor Vehicle Services.” It warned Serra that his car’s manufacturers warranty is expiring. It accurately listed the monthly payment he was making on his car, and the number of payments he had made. It was even written in that typewriter font beloved by mechanics and bureaucracies. But it wasn’t from the Department of Motor Vehicles, it was a piece of extended warranty junk mail gussied up to look official. Here’s the letter: [More]
readers
AT&T Ships Empty Box Instead of iPhone 4
By 6.29.10
The big day had arrived. The UPS box containing Logan’s new iPhone 4 sat on his front porch. Picking it up, he noticed it felt rather light. [More]
Mmm… Cheerwine Filled Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
By 6.28.10
Yes, it is the Cheerwine Kreme Filled Krispy Kreme doughnut. Two beloved Carolina brands together in a collision of flavor. Diabetes never tasted so good! [More]
Video: Stepping In Tarballs A Beach Vacation Lowpoint For Little Girl
By 6.28.10
This video shows a lgirl stepping into a tarball on a Destin, FL and screaming for her mother to get it off. The politicians and billboards are telling people to never mind the oil spill, come down to the shore, the water’s fine. Some of them are, but this beach is not, not today. [More]
Grocery "Embiggen" Ray Hits Safeway Ice Cream
By 6.28.10
It seems the Grocery Embiggen Ray, the antithesis of the Grocery Shrink Ray, has struck Safeway Select ice cream and they’re offering up a whole two quarts, just like ice cream makers used to all do back in the old timey days. [More]
Even Wells Fargo CEO Powerless To Reduce Your Punitive APR
By 6.28.10
The APR on Kevin’s Wells Fargo credit card got jacked up from 9.6% to almost 23%. He owes $16,000. At 9.6, he could afford to make double the monthly payments, but now he’s paying $300+ a month in finance charges alone. He’s begged up and down the hierarchy, from the CEO to any exec or VP he could reach, to please reduce his APR so he can carry this debt. Nope. The numbers have spoken. The odds are calculated. Your risk has been assessed, and the verdict has been issued: you lose. [More]
Brand Fail: Not Just Bagels
By 6.28.10
They may want to think about a new name. (Thanks to Andrew!) [More]
Should Travelocity's "TotalPrice" Guarantees Cover Mandatory Surcharges?
By 6.26.10
Aaron’s pissed because Travelocity’s quote for a one week car rental in Costa Rica didn’t include a mandatory insurance charge that cost him more than $100. Aaron feels cheated and wants Travelocity to pony up under their TotalPrice Guarantee, but Travelocity may not have done anything wrong. Join us across the jump to help us sort this out. [More]
Dick's $10 Off Coupon Good For Most Things, Not The Item You Want
By 6.26.10
Silly Sean, he filled out a survey for Dick’s Sporting Goods because he thought his receipt’s promise of “$10 off your next purchase of $50!” meant that he would get $10 off his next purchase of $50. Nope! [More]
Wait On Line To Show Your Costco Receipt Or You Will Be Assaulted
By 6.26.10
Let’s say you’re in a rush after buying a fan at Costco. You look past the line packed with people and carts and spy a lone employee standing by the exit. Do you walk over and show your receipt? What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s ask Reader Shay. [More]
Tiny Turtle Makes AirTran Return To Gate, Girls Forced To Get Rid Of Pet Before Reboarding
By 6.25.10
Maybe it was Michelangelo and they were afraid he would eat up all the in-flight pizza. A 10-year old girl’s teensy turtle posed enough of a risk to an AirTran flight that the plane was forced to turn around and return to the gate. The girl and her sisters were told they could not get back on the plane with the turtle. [More]
USPS Sends Your Package 5,586 Miles To Travel 120
By 6.25.10
Jonathan is trying to figure out why the box of records he sent from Bell to Bakersfield, CA somehow took a 5,000 mile detour across the country and back first. [More]
Verizon: Die Fighting In Afghanistan, Pay $350 Early Termination Fee
By 6.25.10
After a woman’s husband died in Afghanistan, a marine felled by an IED, she moved back to her home town to be closer to her family and grieve. In the smaller town, she couldn’t get any reception from Verizon, so she called them up to cancel. Despite being a widow and Verizon not living up to its contractual obligations to provide actual cellphone coverage, they slapped her with a $350 early termination fee. UPDATE: Verizon Retreats From Charging Marine Widow $350 Early Termination Fee [More]
Sheriff Says Tmobile Delayed Murder Investigation
By 6.24.10
The head of the Major Case Squad of St. Louis is calling out Tmobile for delaying a 20-person double-murder investigation by several days by demanding an unusual $50 fee for accessing victims’ phone records. [More]
Clusterfracas of Stove Delivery Incompetence Loses Best Buy a Customer
By 6.23.10
Add “delivering a stove” to the list of things Best Buy is not very good at. Heather bought one from them, then was subjected to various delays and bogus fees, and now has to wait for Best Buy to “trick” its system into giving her a refund for a fee she should never have been charged in the first place. Here is the email she sent CEO of Best Buy, Brian Dunn, explaining the series of events leading up to her decision to never shop at Best Buy again: [More]
Spirit Airlines Launches "Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches" Promo
By 6.22.10
Spirit Airlines is known for pushing its bottom-scraping fees with crass emailed promos, but usually they just stick with dorky sex puns. Now they’re branching out into sociopolitical commentary with their latest “Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches” promotion that leverages the BP oil spill in comedy and marketing gold. [More]
BP's Internal Mag Discovers Oil Spill Helped Gulf Coast Economy
By 6.22.10
According to BP’s in-house online magazine, Planet BP, there is a silver lining in the giant puddle of oil they caused to spew all over the Gulf of Mexico. That’s right, the spill, far from devastating the local economy, is causing it to prosper! [More]
IKEA Phasing Out Tris Flame Retardants From Furniture
By 6.22.10
A Slate reporter was bowled over by the pungent chemical aroma her new IKEA sofa emitted after she took of the package. She carved off a little piece of the mattress foam and sent it to a lab, which found it contained a funky flame retardant called “chlorinated tris.” This is interesting as brominated tris was banned from children’s sleepwear in 1977 after studies showed it was a skin-absorbable carcinogenic. [More]
